High quality plating of precious metals onto strips of metal or webs, such as done to produce lead frames for mounting semiconductor chips, requires machines that transport the delicate strip carefully. Mechanical damage makes it necessary to scrap the product along with the precious metal thereon. The prior art generally restricts precious metal plating to selected small areas on the web to conserve precious metal. Hence, the web can be handled by apparatus that contacts the web in non-critical areas.
One important part of the machine that must made good contact to the web is the electrodes which transfer the electrical current to the web during the plating operation. Prior art electrodes generally come into contact with the face of the strip, where a large area is available, so as to insure good electrical connections between the stationary electrodes and the moving web. However, in some products, the entire face of the web is plated with metal and the possibility exists that the electrodes will scratch up the plated surface. The present invention avoids this problem.